Firefighters Rappel Down Building and Fight More Fires

There have been almost a dozen fires in a week that the Saskatoon Fire Department have put out but the call Sunday night was actually to deal with a large sign on a downtown building which had become precariously loose.

It was the First Nations Bank on 4th Avenue South just off 20th Street and the building operator actually called it in saying the large commercial backlit sign had become unfastened from the building and was hanging dangerously over the sidewalk below.

A technical rescue team repelled down the side of the building removing one piece of the sign and securing a second piece. This entire event got underway just before 8 p.m. Sunday night and wrapped up before 10 p.m. and during the process traffic and pedestrian traffic was restricted in the area.

The Saskatoon Fire Department responded to yet another fire Sunday afternoon in the city. Multiple homes on fire were reported by numerous 911 calls that came in at 2:23 pm from the 2000 block of Kensington Road.

Bystanders were successfully extinguishing the fire prior to the Saskatoon Fire Department arriving on scene but fire crews say there was notable damage to the two homes, visible upon arrival. Everyone had safely gotten out and no one was injured.

A fire investigator is determining the cause and a damage estimate. The Saskatoon Fire department was called to four different fires Saturday and the fourth actually involved two homes in the Hampton Village neighbourhood which resulted in – the fire department says it is an early estimate – of a million dollars in damage.